An experimental investigation of learning and performance in children with academic disabilities
Date
1968
Author
Advisor
Lloyd J. Borstelmann, Supervisor
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Abstract
A distinction between learning and performance has long been traditional in theoretical
and experimental formulations of general learning theory. More recently a similar
or parallel distinction has developed in the literature on children with academic
difficulties. Here it has been referred to as a distinction between "assimilation
and utilization" or between "disorders in the function of taking in knowledge" and
"disorders in the use of learning." Other recent investigations have further hypothesized
that a set of broad motivational variables characterized as "fear of success" or "need
to fail" are crucial in the poor achievement of some children with academic difficulties.
This study was designed as an experimental investigation of some consequences that
seemed deducible from the inter-relationships among these distinctions and hypotheses.
Three groups of children were defined within a normal school population by a statistical
comparison of academic grades and achievement test scores in reading. All subjects
had at least average I.Q. scores. In the first group, academic grades were significantly
lower than might have been predicted from the achievement test scores. This was considered
to reflect a difficulty in performance and the group was referred to as the non-performers.
In the second group, academic grades and achievement test scores
were both considerably below the average for the whole group. This was considered
to reflect a difficulty in learning, and the group was referred to as the non-learners.
In the third group, academic grades and achievement test scores were congruent and
both were at an average level. This group was referred to as the normals.
Subjects were examined individually under one of three conditions of evaluative feedback:
(1) competitive success, (2) competitive failure, and (3) neutral. In the competitive
success condition, the subject was convinced that he was performing more adequately
than his peers. In the competitive failure condition, he was convinced that he was
performing more poorly. In the neutral condition, the feedback was purely procedural.
A modified version of the Digit-Symbol Test was the principal task. During the performance
trials emphasis was on speed, and time in seconds was taken as a performance measure.
After 10 trials, each subject was asked to complete the Digit-Symbol form without
a key. The number of digit-symbol combinations remembered correctly was taken as a
measure of learning. Thematic Apperception Test stories and Sarason Anxiety Scale
scores were obtained from each subject.
The major hypotheses may be stated informally. The non-performer group should show
greater decrement in performance than in learning, and the largest performance decrement
should occur under the competitive success condition.
The non-learner group should show decrements in both performance and learning when
compared to the other two groups. They should show no special decrement under success.
The normal group should show best performance and learning under the
success condition with only slight decrements under the other two conditions.
There should be no difference between the non-performer and the normal group on the
learning measure. None of these major hypotheses were unequivocally substantiated.
There was, however, evidence to warrant several conclusions.
The groups defined statistically were discriminable on some experimental tasks. This
lends credence to the notion of two types of learning problems.
The crucial role of competitive success in influencing the behavior of the non-performer
group was demonstrated. However, such broad motivational patterns as “need to fail”
or “renunciation of success” are not sufficiently explanatory. There was, in fact,
evidence that consideration must also be given to the non-performers unduly intense
"need to succeed".
The experimental conditions were effectively created in that there were differences
among conditions across all groups on the learning measure. Also, each group showed
a pattern of differential response to each of the conditions.
Description
This thesis was digitized as part of a project begun in 2014 to increase the number
of Duke psychology theses available online. The digitization project was spearheaded
by Ciara Healy.
Type
DissertationDepartment
PsychologyPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/13570Published Version (Please cite this version)
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